Prague Castle

We walk from the old town of Prague across the Charles Bridge and on the other side we reach Malostrana which is the home to the largest attraction of Prague – the Prague castle which apparently hold the world record as the biggest castle in the world.

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We go up the main street of the area – it is a bit of walk up the hill when you walk around the castle side of Prague. The castle is placed on a hill with the view of the other side of old Prague.

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We continue the walk up the hill passing a pretty square which is one of the few places in the old town where there is a large public area. Most of the place has pretty narrow streets so there aren’t many public spaces.

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We get to the top of the hill where there is a large old monastery dominating the hill. There is a good view from up here of the old town and Prague castle. There are a local microbrewery up here and several restaurants so it is about time to go in and have some lunch and a good check beer which is always a highlight when you go and visit the Czech Republic.

After we have some traditional Czech food for lunch followed by some beers we go back out in the sunny fall of Prague. We head down towards the castle of the city. On the way down to the castle we pass through a nice street and square where the richest people of Prague used to live so they could be close to the ruler of the area. They did live in very nice houses making the houses on the road to the castle the nicest collection of high class mansions in Prague.

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The security at the Prague castle has increased since I went here last time many years ago. You can no longer just walk inside the castle ground – you have to go through an airport style security check with metal detectors before you are allowed inside the castle area. Fortunately they haven’t put in a fee to enter when they put up the metal detectors so it is still free to go in and wonder the outside area of the castle. You do have to pay if you want to go inside the buildings and see the museums and churches of the area. We don’t have that much time so we just stay outside.

There are a lot of people walking around the castle area – the city of Prague is really a tourist trap probably due to the location which makes it within easy reach from large parts of the European population. We spend a little time wondering around the castle – but then decide to go out of this area to search for a more peaceful part of the city.